What I Took Away From Aamir (Movie)

What a movie! Direction (by debutant Raj Kumar Gupta who assisted Anurag Kashyap in No Smoking), Cinematography (by debutant Alphons Roy), Performance (by debutant Rajeev Khandelwal), Music (by debutant Amit Trivedi), Editing (by Aarti Bajaj) - all are top notch.

This post in not a review. (There are many good reviews available online.) It contains my personal interpretations about the message that the movie tries to convey. There are spoilers, so if you haven't watched the movie yet, don't read this post.

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There's a lovely song by Eddi Reader "It's Not What You've Been Given, It's What You Do With What You've Got". (Listen to it here, it's really beautiful.)

And that is precisely what, I think, the central theme of the movie Aamir is.

"Kaun Kehta Hai Ki Aadmi Apni Kismat Khud Likhta Hai?" is the tag-line of the movie. The answer lies in the movie, in the final scene, to be more precise.

When the kidnapper tries to preach Aamir and tells him about the difficulties that Muslims face in India, Aamir shots back at him and asks who's stopping them to break the social and economic barriers and make a decent living? After all, as his argument goes, he himself is one of them (i.e. a muslim) and became a doctor in spite of living in the same discriminating society! Although Aamir loses that verbal debate, he, in the end, wins the ideological debate. Aamir could have left that bomb in the bus as he was asked to do, but he chose not to. In that sense, however limited his options were, he finally chose his destiny. He chose not to become a terrorist and kill innocent people. (That's the only thing he does willingly in the entire movie.)

This message could be easily extrapolated into the realms of our society. There are many poor, oppressed, discriminated against, subjugated people, but not everyone chooses to take the wrong, negative or destructive path (of robbery, violence, terrorism etc.). However, some do opt for baleful ways to either take revenge or in order to end their misery. But (as I've pondered over before here) that can cause a vicious cycle of hate and retributions that can eventually have cataclysmic results for the society.

The circumstances might limit the number of options that are available to you. But it's YOU who finally makes a choice.

The main character is aptly named as Aamir (which means leader). In the entire movie, he had to do what he was forced to do by the kidnapper, but in the end, by doing what he could do (and wanted to do in the given circumstance), he became a true leader. Leader of his own fate, who led his life to a respectable, noble and courageous end.

Satya - The First Mumbai Noir Movie

It's been 10 years since Satya redefined the way Bollywood "looked" at Mumbai underworld. It established a new genre in Bollywood - Mumbai noir. Before Satya most of the movies in which the protagonist has a negative character, showed us an honest, non-violent, Mr Nice Guy, who has a lovely middle class family, a nice girlfriend and lives a simple happy life. Then something really unfortunate and "unexpected" happens and it takes everything he loved away from him (or put it in jeopardy). Hence, he is left with no other choice but become a goonda to take revenge or to save his helpless family. 

Satya gave us a break from all that cliched nice-guy-harassed-by-society-and-becomes-a-bad-guy theme. Here the protagonist enters the underworld as if he is trying to find a purpose in his life! 

We're not even told why Satya came to Mumbai or where he came form. Does he have some skeletons in his closet? Does he have a family somewhere? Did he deserted them or did his family threw him out? Why? We don't know. It's irrelevant. The movie is not about what happened to Satya, it's about what happens to Satya after he comes to Mumbai. And probably that's what made Satya more interesting - the mystery and strangeness that revolves around him. (Director Ramu toys along with the audience about this. Satya is asked many times about his past and his family, but every time, we get vague answers. "Kya faraq padta hai?" is his reply when Bhiku asks him where he came from. "Mar gaye honge shayad." is what he tells him when he inquires about where his parents are.) We see Satya staring blankly at the ceiling of his tiny flat, and outwards from his window. We wonder what he is thinking about. Perhaps there's nothing but a vacuum, which will be soon filled with his next door neighbor, Vidya.

While his new friend Bhikhu teaches him how to operate a gun, Vidya teaches him how to smile and love. Satya learns both skills with ease, but we know that he is better at the former. He is simultaneously driven to two separate paths, one can lead to destruction and the other to happiness. Both Bhikhu and Vidya needed Satya. Bhikhu is a hot-tempered don who is no more than a puppet in the hands of don-turned-politician, Bhau. And Vidya is frustrated from her continuous struggle to make a living as a singer in an industry where "Kucch paane ke liye kucch khona bhi padta hai". Satya completes Bhiku, the don of Mumbai underworld, as he helps him make strategic decisions.("Hamara fayda unke dar se hai, unki maut se naheen.") And he also completes Vidya who finds a friend and companion in Satya.

Many dialogues in this movie are aptly written and executed in such a way that it leaves an impact on the audience. ("Ek Jaayega, to sab jaayenge.", "Mauka sabhi ko milta hai.", "Karna hai, to karna hai.", "Kasai bhi bakra tabhi katta hai jab log use khaate hai. Sirf KAsai pe kyon ungli uthaate ho?" etc.) There are some scenes in the movie which exemplifies Ramu's genius as a director:

- Satya's first murder

- Satya's attack on that hafta-wasooli guy with a razor blade

- The sweet scuffle between Bhikhu and his wife

- Bhikhu's proclamations as "Mumbai ka don" on a seashore rock facing the city (excellent location)

- Amod Shukla's murder and Khandelkar's reaction

- Satya's escape from the theatre

- Bhau's murder, Mule's murder

- The final scene

The mood of Satya composed by Sandeep Showta is one of my most favorite movie themes. Ram Gopal Varma once said that Sandeep Chowta understood the character of Satya more than himself. All main characters are well defined and well developed. Chakravarty as Satya was a very good choice. The character of Satya needed a new face because strangeness was the main essences of his character. The character grows on you in the movie. Just like the other leads in the movie (Bhikhu, Vidya, Bhau etc.) the audience also looks as Satya as a stranger. The audience learns more about Satya as the other characters in the movie learns more about him. (Contrast this - choice of actor - with the choice of Ajay Devgan to play the character of Malik in Ramu's other underworld saga - Company. There was no time for building the character of Malik in this movie as the movie was more about the 'events' rather than the 'characters'. So Ramu needed an established actor whom the audience can take seriously from the very first scene.) And then there's Bhiku Matre. Manoj Bajpai convinces you that no one could have played the role of Bhiku Matre better than him. 

After Satya, there have been many more Mumbai noir movies that followed its footsteps. But any movie that's based on Mumbai underworld is going to have some inspirations from Satya. In that sense, Satya is to Bollywood what Godfather is to Hollywood.

Jodhaa Akbar disappoints

Just watched Jodhaa Akbar yesterday. It was disappointing. Stunning landscapes, spectacular forts, beautiful costumes and commendable acting by Hritik couldn't save the story and screenplay which lacked a cohesive thread. The story kept swinging back and forth between a historical anecdote and a love affair. And ended up doing full justice to neither. The extras (in battle scenes) seemed to be hugely underpaid (even more so than those in Mahabharata!). Action scenes were lousy. Overplayed melodrama and lack of humor made the 3+ hours almost difficult to endure.

The movie had its moments, but there were very few.

I didn't like the execution of Khwaja Mere Khawja song. An emotional devotion was either missing or half-heartedly performed.

If you must, watch it for (a) ARR's background score, (b) Hritik's acting (and flexing!) skills, and (c) astounding visuals. 

No Smoking - Movie review

No Smoking is a “self service” movie. You have to try and figure out the story and the message by yourself. The movie is not likely to work well at the box office since we are so used to being served (spoon-fed) in Bollywood, where everything in the movie has to be clear and easy to understand. Metaphors and symbolic references are quite rare and frowned upon in our film industry.

“I hope the movie finds its audience” says Anurag Kashyap (the director) because he knows that for an average Joe it’s going to be inconvenient (and in some cases, impossible) to come out of those explain-me-everything and I-am-here-only-to-be-entertained mind-sets.

This is a bold and quite “arrogant” movie that refuses to spoon-feed the audience. It’s like when someone throws you into the water and expects you to learn swimming without any help. You either swim, or drown. There’s no third way out.

The movie is full with many metaphors and surrealistic moments.

- The protagonist's name "K" is a reference to (Anurag) Kashyap – the director himself.
- The bathtub is a symbol of worldly comfort, and ciggaret of freedom. (You have to choose between these two. In the dream sequences K constantly leaps for his ciggaret/freedom and gets killed by the soldier. Towards the end, when he decides to go for the bathtub instead, his freedom is sacrificed and that kills his soul.)
- Initially you see K smoking in his bath-tub, which indicates that he has both: worldly pleasures and his freedom. He is having dreams (or, nightmares) in which he has to choose between these two.
- The two fingers that K uses to smoke his ciggarets, are also the same ones that Kashyap uses to write his movies.
- The dream sequence in Russia is a reference to Stalin’s dictatorial Communist government – violation of personal liberty.
- The secretary and wife both played by Ayesha Takia are two different and opposite characters. The wife is a self-determined & strong individual while the secretary is submissive (she follows orders unquestionably and takes out K’s shoes in one scene.)
- “Cigarret Shashtra” is a reference to social orthodoxy and conservatism.
- K arrogantly talking to himself in the mirror (“Hi, I am K”, “Nobody tells K what to do”) is reference to Martin Scorsese classic Taxi Driver (the immortal sequence “Are you talking to me?” by De Nero).
- There is a reference to Vishal Bhardwaj, Gulzar and also to Fidel Castro. I felt that the former was forced and shallow though. (“Bidi jalai le ke Vishal desh mein…”)
- Baba Bengali’s threat of hurting or killing K’s family members is probably symbolic reference to the fact that K’s smoking hurts his family (both emotionally and physically as in his brother’s case).
- In the last scene, K is shown quiet and composed for the first time in the movie. He has quit smoking. Baba Bengali has won. But K’s soul is gone. We see that his fingers are cut – which is probably a way of showing the fact that his soul is now cut off from himself.
- The cinematography, lighting, background score and song lyrics – the overall ambiance of the movie is “dark” which gels with the melancholy theme of the movie.

The movie actually takes off when K plunges into the water in the custody. His soul and his body take two different but coherent journeys after that moment. The soul experiences bizarre moments and try to find ways to continue smoking (i.e. stick to his individual freedom.) But finally in the battle of K’s soul and his mind, the mind wins when K chooses to opt for the bathtub (instead of ciggaret) and not get killed by the soldier.

There are obvious flaws in the movie too. I think Kashyap has tried too hard to not spoon-feed the audience. He ended up making a movie that lot (or worse, most) of the people will not “get” completely. I doubt if there’s anyone except Kashyap himself who can claim to have understood the whole movie. But may be that’s the idea. May be that’s way this movie was meant to be.

This is probably the first time in Bollywood when a director made a very “personal” self-referential movie. Through K’s character, Kashyap talks about his own frustration and anguish (with the industry). In order to understand the analogy, you would have to know some background of Kashyap. This movie is from a director who is still waiting to get green flag from the censor board to let his first to movies released (Paanch and Gulal). It’s a movie from the director who had to unwillingly make several cuts in his last movie (Black Friday) to get censor board’s approval. It’s a movie from the director who felt as if his liberty to make movies (in the way he wants to make them) is taken away from him (as if his fingers with which he writes his movie were cut!). And that’s the central theme of this movie. How a person has to sacrifice his own self(ish) desires in order to follow the societal norms. And how that comes at the cost of your own personal soul! (By this, Kashyap is not saying that smoking is good. He makes this very clear before the movie begins. “A thousand people stops smoking everyday. By dying. Smoking Kills.”)

This is a movie that bothers you, provokes you, makes you think, it’s like a jigsaw puzzle that you try to put together even after (and especially after) the movie is over.

I loved this movie for its libertarian theme, style, wonderful songs, witty dialogues, bold and unusual way of storytelling.

PS. Two great quotes from two great philosophers (Socrates and Plato) are shown before the beginning credits:

“To be is to do.”
“To do is to be.”

You are defined by your what to do. Your actions define you, not your looks.

Jab We Met movie review

Jab We Met is very enjoyable. After a long time, we have a fabulous romantic comedy.

The plot is not original, but the script is well written. A big part of this movie is on Karina's shoulders and she carries it really well. She rocks! This is probably her best performance so far.

Two songs are very melodious and with nice poetry: Aaoge Tum (Music: Sandesh Shandilya, Lyrics: Nida Fazli?, Singer: Ustad Rashid Khan) and Tum Se Hi (Music: Pritam, Lyrics: Irshad Kamil, Singer: Mohit Chauhan). They are well placed in the movie. The placement of other songs could have been better though. They don’t move the story forward but don’t do much damage to the flow either.

Some moments in the movie were really touching and well executed: When Aditya accepts that he’s in love with Geet and says “Yes, I like you a lot, but hey, that’s my problem!”, when during their second stay in a (this time literally decent!) motel she says something like "Kitni stupid hoon main, is liye meri ye haalat hui hai" and starts crying, when Geet finally realizes what her heart wants, a train passes in the background and she feels "jaise koi train chhut rahi ho…”

Imtiaz Ali has grown as a director after his first movie Socha Na Tha (which was quite likeable). The opening sequence: when Aditya leaves his cell phone and car keys and walks into the streets dropping his tie on the sidewalk, was very impressive.

I am looking forward to Imtiaz Ali’s next movie.

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Also, I highly recommend Manorama Six Feet Under and Johny Gaddar to everyone who likes off-beat movies. Both are very well-made and well-acted movies in genres that are almost absent in Bollywood nowadays. The former is a Bollywood noir set up in a remote village in Rajasthan (spectacular visuals). And the latter is a suspense thriller, in which the audience knows who the culprit is, but the actors in the movie don't, and the movie is about how they find it out! Look out for pop-culture references to the movies from 70's. There are so many.

Unfortunately, No Smoking, on which I had high hopes (especially because of the names that are associated with the movie - Vishal Bhardwaj and Gulzar), didn't get any good reviews. It looks like Anurag Kashyap has broken bridges with so many reviewers that many of them are reviewing his attitude rather than his movie. (Read Khalid Mohammed's review in Hindustan Times, you don't need an expert to figure out that he has personal grudges for Kashyap and that's all he talks about in his "movie" review - bad director, bad person, very arrogant, how stupid yada yada yada...) I still haven't given up on the movie though -- I will watch it as soon as I can.

Chak De India - movie review

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"Tamil aur Telugu mein kitna fark hai!" the cook (played by Javed Khan) tells an Andhra girl (hockey player) when she shrugs for being referred as Tamil. And she aptly replies "Utna hi, jitna ek Punjabi aur Bihari mein" and simply walks away without showing any anger or dislike.

Another girl from Manipur says she can't be happy for being treated like a guest in a country that is her own.

These and many more little things in this movie just blew me away. Never before in a Bollywood movie I have seen well portrayed characters from so many (so called) "remote parts" of India.

It's a really great achievement for the director Shimit Amin (who directed Ab Tak Chhappan for Ram Gopal Varma before) who had an ordinary, clichéd script on his hands but never in the movie you'll get a how-many-times-have-we-seen-this-before feeling (well, okay - except for few scenes.).

Once again, after Swades, Shahrukh Khan gives us a memorable performance. Unlike in most of his other movies, you see the "actor" Shahrukh Khan, not the "star" Shahrukh Khan. There were moments in the movie, when I was afraid that he was about to unleash his histrionics upon us - (Sattar minutes, for instance) but I am glad that he didn't, and his acting was convincing and well constrained throughout the movie. All girls acted very well too - they undertook three months of intensive hockey training and physiotherapy for this movie! Every player was characterized so well that feel a connection with them, you laugh with them, chuckle at their mischief and feel sad when they cry.

Background music by Salim-Suleiman was very appropriate and appealing ("Bad Bad Girls" rocked! "Maula Mere Le Le Meri Jaan" was touching). The songs are not “sung” or performed in the movie, you just hear them in the background - this is a welcoming change in Bollywood movies lately (Was Rang De Basanti a trend-setter here?).

I really liked Jaidip Sahni's dialogues and lyrics. In "Bad Bad Girls" - a line goes like this "Na Chhat pe bulayegi, na nange pair aayegi..." which reminds us of an antra from the classic song "Chupke chupke raat din" by Ghulam Ali -- Dopahar ki dhoop mein, mere bulaane ke liye, wo tera kothe pe, nenge paon aana yaad hai! This is another phenomenon I have noticed in some Bollywood movies lately - pop-culture references (like, Ek Chalis Ki Last Local had many of 'em).

Comparisons with other movies - especially Lagaan - are obvious. When Shahrukh Khan throws a challenge to the committee member and asks for a match between his team and men's team -- you can't deny the similarity with Lagaan (where Amir throws similar challenge to angrez). I can be wrong - but I don't think that even Shimit Amin and Jaideep Sahni (writer) are shy about their inspirations from Lagaan - one hint is that he used a same stereotypical character from Lagaan (Javed Khan) and another one is a common dialogue in both movies that refers to "Itihaas ke panne".

But who cares? I liked this movie as much as I liked Lagaan, if not more!

Gandhi My Father - movie review

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It was, well, disappointing.

I went to see a masterpiece, and I came back with a feeling that my hopes on (a) first time director Firoz Abbas Khan, (b) first time producer Anil Kapoor, and (c) Akshaye Khanna who was given a challenging role for the first time, were awry and unnecessary.

The subject of this movie “The stormy relationship between Harilal and Gandhi”, “How the father of the nation could not become an ideal father of his own son”, or “To the nation, he was a father, but to his son, he was a father whom he never had” aroused me so much that I’ve been waiting to see this movie since the first day I watched the promos.

What a wonderful subject - almost wasted by below-average performances (especially by the pivotal characters), could-have-been-better direction, bad make-up (Gandhi’s ears kept changing its size!), stifling screenplay (too many unnecessary jumps between India and Africa), slow (at times almost somnolent) pace, and..well, execrable story-telling!

The emotional drama between Gandhi and Harilal was simply underplayed. Harilal’s character goes through many “mood swings”, but his emotional journey through all those sentiments is left somewhat unexplored. For example, when Harilal goes to Africa for the first time, leaving behind his pregnant wife, Gandhi doesn’t even show up at the port to pick him up, and we are not told how Harilal felt about it (of course, we can assume that he must have felt terrible, but it would have been interesting to see Harilal’s emotional reaction – did he feel angry? Or sad? Or being a little childish, did he feel abandoned?). Another example is Harilal’s conversion to Islam – which should have been more explanatory (By the way, here’s a link to Gandhi’s speech on Harilal’s conversion to Islam: http://www.hvk.org/hvk/articles/0103/354.html.) .

It was difficult for me to grasp how a movie revolving around Gandhi’s life and his struggle for independence didn’t even cared to show other political leaders of that time period. Not that it was necessary for the story, but there are several public appearances of Gandhi (giving a speech, attending an evening-prayer, imprisonment at the Aga Khan palace etc.) where I was trying catch a glance of Nehru or Sardar. You only see them in those black-and-white footages which were overused throughout in the movie.

Gladly, not everything about this movie was bad! The cinematography (by David MacDonald) was sleek (the only complain I have is – there were too many close-up shots). Shefali Chaaya and Bhumika Chawla gave wonderful performances. Akshaye Khanna acted well in some scenes (like, the Sadma-style scene when he comes to the railway station to meet his mother). Production design was good. I liked how Feroz Shah captured many Gujarati traditional scenes – all the colorful costumes looked authentic and pleasant to the eyes. Background score by Piyush Kanojia was mesmerizing. (When Gandhi is talking to Kasturba about Harilal’s conversion, and tells her that Harilal and Abdullah means the same, you can hear “Ishwar Allah tero naam” in the background. Wonderful!) The irony between Gandhi’s attitude towards untouchables (urging society to accept them) and the denunciation of his own son (making him like an untouchable to the society) is also played masterfully.

I was glad that this movie stayed away from Gandhi-bashing when it came to the partition of India. Gandhi’s opinion about the partition (he was against the partition) is well proclaimed in the movie. (I just wanted to mention this here, because I know many people who hold Gandhi responsible for the partition).

The movie was also honest about Gandhi’s contribution to Harilal’s miserable life. Someone could have easily made a movie that blames Gandhi entirely for his elder son’s bad fate (that movie would have been titled: the Dark side of Gandhi!). But this is handled very nicely. Yes, Gandhi should have spent more time with his son (and family for that matter), he should have listened to Harilal’s aspirations to go to London and become a barrister, but (a) Harilal had some inherent likelihood to go ashtray in life (After all, not all his sons turned to liquor, prostitution and betrayals in business.), and (b) how he was always seen as Gandhi’s son also should have played a significant role in shaping his life. These two causes were depicted well in the movie.

I felt sorry for Harilal, and even more so, I felt sorry for Gandhi for not being able to save his son from his ill-fate (according to Gandhi, not being able to convey his message to Harial and Mohammed Ali Jeenha were two of his biggest failures in his life).

The movie is based on the novel Harilal Gandhi: A Life by Chandulal Bhagubhai Dalal.